VoLXVIl j OBj The Anatidas of North Dakota. 1 63 



and note every detail of her plumage, both as she sat and as she 

 flew back and forth before us, that it was not necessary to 

 sacrifice her for identification. Nothing was seen of the male. 



I met the Green-winged Teal (Nettion carolinensis) on two 

 occasions. The first time was in Steele County on May 11, when 

 I came upon a pair sitting with some of the other Teal, Shovel- 

 lers, and Pintails in a small pond close to a farm-house. The 

 other instance was on June 20, at Rolla, near the Turtle Moun- 

 tains, when, investigating a small, reedy prairie-slough, I came 

 upon a female manifesting great anxiety, and soon drove from 

 the tall reeds her brood of eight young. For a quarter of an hour 

 that mother flapped, limped, and dragged herself around, at times 

 so close to me that I could almost touch her. The ducklings 

 were of very tender age. 



The Greater Scaup (Aythya marild) I am confident of meeting 

 in considerable numbers in one large reedy slough not far from 

 Devil's Lake, both in May and towards the end of June. The 

 Lesser Scaup was there too, and I could not but notice the 

 difference in size between them. My last visit, at the breeding 

 time, had to be very brief, and I did not happen upon any nest. 

 In this one slough were ten species of Ducks, all in good 

 numbers. The place was fairly alive with Ducks, as were many 

 other similar localities that I came across in my travels. 



The White-winged Scoter (Oidemia deglandi) I found quite 

 common in two localities in the Devil's Lake region. During the 

 first part of the season I searched in vain for nests. But on June 

 27 I solved the mystery by finding eight nests on a group of small 

 islands. They contained 14, 13, 10, 10, 7, 6, 1, o, eggs respec- 

 tively. The last was a new nest ready for eggs. This shows 

 that the bird is a very late breeder. In only three instances was 

 the bird on the nest, — the first three mentioned. The eggs were 

 all fresh, in the other instances being cold, covered with down, 

 debris, and loam that had been scratched over them. The nest 

 is the flimsiest built by any species of Duck that I have observed, 

 — a mere depression in the bare earth, with a frail rim of dark 

 down, weed-stems, and grass around it. The eggs are of a 

 pinkish flesh-color, even after being blown. In every case the 

 nest was under a clump of bushes, with woody stems, never in 



